Staffline Recruitment, which has offices in Birmingham and Coventry, has revealed a maiden 2004 performance ahead of the forecast made in its AIM admission document.

The group, which provides both skilled and unskilled workers to the food production, manufacturing, logistics and engineering industries, saw turnover for the year up 22 . 8 per cent to £48.9 million. The pretax loss before goodwill and exceptionals was reduced by 76 per cent to £134,000 from £561,000.

Staffline, admitted to AIM in December 2004, said it planned to declare an interim dividend at the time of its half-year results.

Managing director Andy Hogarth said trading in the first eight weeks of 2005 had shown good growth and was in line with budget expectations. He also said the group had secured a number of new contracts and had already grown the number of its onsite office locations by five in the current year to total 40. The firm also operates 21 high-street branches and employs 181 people.

Mr Hogarth said: "We are encouraged by the continued growth of the group to date and have every confidence of further progress in the year ahead."

The company, which is based in Nottingham, also announced the appointment of John Crabtree as its non-executive director and chairman of the remuneration committee. Mr Crabtree was previously senior partner of Birmingham-based corporate law firm Wragge & Co and holds a number of chairs and directorships in the region.